


Preparations

by Jen425



Series: For The Republic [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Anakin is an Idiot, Anakin still being in that horrible place right now, Artoo and Fives are Force sensitive. fight me, Artoo is awesome, Clone Rebellion, Clones are way more aware than the Jedi, Delegation of 2000, Except Plo Obi-Wan Shaak ti and sometimes Yoda, Force-Sensitive Clones, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu hates Anakin, Setup, a lot of setup, and Anakin knows this, and droids, and the 501st would like to join me in hating the Council
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-13 09:33:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13567770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: It’s the beginning of the end.





	1. Preparations

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, everyone, to the beginning of the climax.

It’s funny, really, how Darth Sidious dies, his legacy, with any luck, dying right along with him, and, with even more luck, the Sith will die soon after.

  
  
It begins with a revelation...

  
  
It begins with a rebellion...

  
  
It begins with a choice.

  
  
(It’s funny, really, how all the pieces come together. Anakin had planned, yes, but not _one_ plan anyone had made had seemed to actually _work_ in this war.

  
  
Of course, his plan was _literally_ to _stop_ the reason for that, but…

  
  
Well, his plans were crazy on a good day, and this was no different. Honestly, he was just glad that his plan had actually morphed beyond “find the Sith Lord, prove he’s the Sith Lord, and then kill the Sith Lord and himself in the process.”

  
  
In the end, he goes into the fight with the most unexpected support group behind him.

  
  
And, perhaps, that’s why he succeeds.)

 

  
  
“General Skywalker?”

  
  
Anakin wasn’t surprised at Senator Organa's shock. Despite their close relationships with both Obi-Wan and Padme, they’d rarely if ever had a real conversation. Still, though, he needed the help of a senator that he could trust, and he couldn’t exactly go to Palpatine ( _Sidious_ ) or Padme, so that left... someone Padme trusted.

  
  
(Bail he knew that he could trust. After all, he had been entrusted with the care of his daughter, in another life.)

  
  
“I need your help.”

  
  
Bail looked surprised. (Of course he was surprised. His relationship with Sidious wasn’t at all a secret, and his relationship with Padme was the ultimate unkept one.) Anakin sighs, before clarifying.

  
  
“I think I know why the Separatists know everything about us, and I think that we can’t do anything about it, yet. Do you have a place we can talk without listening ears?”

  
  
He does, of course, and Anakin crafts the first half-truth that he needs for this.

  
  
“Palpatine is working with Dooku in order to turn the Republic into an Empire. He has a booby trap set up in the men to kill the Jedi if we try and stop him. I need someone in the Senate to vouch for the Jedi if this goes wrong.”

  
  
Senator Organa looks surprised, but... not as much as expected. (Just how close had they already made it to the end?)

 

“Me and my allies have worried about the Chancellor’s emergency powers for some time, now, but such a thing as this…”

 

Anakin scoffs.

 

“Worse than any possibility that you’d considered?”

 

Senator Organa nods.

 

“Indeed. May I request how you got this information, and why you chose me to hold it?”

 

Anakin smiles humorlessly.

 

“He contacted Dooku, and I overheard. Most of… most of that time was a blur, so I couldn’t entirely remember his face or his voice, but… he called me in, today, and…”

 

Anakin trails off, unable or unwilling, he’s not sure which, to finish that thought.

 

“Padme and Obi-Wan trust you, and I’m hoping that they’re not as wrong with that as they are with trusting me.”

 

He senator looks thoughtful.

 

“So what exactly do you want me to do?”

 

Anakin laughs.

 

“That’s the thing,” he says, “I have no idea. The Jedi have suspected a Separatist inside man for… _years_ , now, but the _Chancellor…_ ”

 

Anakin trails off, once again.

 

(The Chancellor is the Sith Lord.)

 

“I don’t know what to say to say except this… Be ready for anything. I’m not sure, but I think my capture and Grievous’s execution was… not part of the plan, and I’m not sure that we can make the first move without making things worse…” Anakin sighs, “I… I’m not sure, but I think that the Chancellor may even be Dooku’s Master, and all the Sith want is absolute power.”

 

Organa nods.

 

“I’ll see what I can do.”

 

“And don’t say I-“

 

“I won’t tell her.”

 

Anakin smiles. Any chance of secrecy may have long flown the coop, but, soon, it won’t matter.

 

Soon, everyone will be safe.

  
(The conversation continues for a little while longer, they trade comm numbers, and both make promises to contact one another if anything changes. Both can already see the plans forming in the other’s eyes.

 

They doesn’t know it, but they just kickstarted something always meant to be. It won’t be called the Delegation of 2000, or the Rebellion... but the leaders will be the same...  
  
Not the martyrs.)

 

(“I have it from a… reliable source, that Chancellor Palpatine is working with the Separatists,” Bail says, and, for Padme Amidala, the world freezes.

 

Because, if that’s the case, then the entire Separatist cause was bet on her love of Anakin.

 

And they lost. She had saved the Republic…

 

But it had nearly cost her everything else.)

  


“Rex, Fives. I need your help with something _insane_.”

  
  
Their surprise would have been obvious to a Force-Blind idiot.

 

“Is this another off-record mission like the one on Pru-Ti II-“

 

“No!” Anakin exclaims, not wanting to be reminded of that particular incident at a time like this, “Nothing like Pru-Ti II, but… yes, this is absolutely off the records…”

 

He trails off. How does he tell his men, who _believe in_ and _trust_ the Republic, the Jedi, and even _himself_ , that they could turn on all three at any moment? For all that his men are slaves even now, it’s still nothing compared to his vague memories of Order 66.

 

“Sir?”

 

Fives’s voice cuts through his musings, and, well, there’s no two ways about it.

 

“When Dooku… had me,” he began, “He… revealed a _lot_ more than he should. The… the chips, they… he can use them to make you turn on us, on the Jedi… the Jedi… I don’t know how they’ll react to this, you know how some of them are about you, so… I haven’t told them, but… you need to spread the word, get it out to every division that the chips need to be removed, and quietly, and to get the de-chipped men as close to the Jedi as they can.”

 

It’s so much harder, here with people he actually knows, so very personal now to talk about the future and his time with Dooku like he’s not falling apart. His resolve is crumbling, and Obi-Wan’s betrayal, however brief, still aches like an open wound. Thankfully, he’s actually put some thought into this part of the plan.

 

His men, of course, are ready to go. They’re conversation was a silent one, but Anakin knows that it was agreed on by both.

 

“We’ll do what we can, sir.”

 

Anakin smiles.

 

“That’s all I can ask.”

 

(They seem… stronger than before. More sure of themselves. It’s a small change, but… he knows his men, and he knows that they truly chose to help him for more than the fact that he’s their General. It’s… _wonderful_. They’re thinking for themselves, now, and…

 

Well, some of his plans were set to extend out long past his death.)

  


(Across the Republic, calls go out to every Captain, Commander, ARC, and any other Clone that two 501st veterans think can keep the secret, and need to know. The receivers don’t hesitate to send it further on.

 

Strangely, the harsher and less caring Jedi’s clones don’t hear the part about turning on their Jedi.)

  


(The holocall is unexpected, and the caller even moreso. Still, Cut Lawquane is grateful for the warning.

 

Rex may never understand his choice, but at least he respected it.

 

He will never leave the family he’s made for himself, and, now… nothing can make him.)

  


The last ally, of course, is the most unexpected.

 

Mace Windu.

 

From a mixture of correspondence with Bail and Padme’s rants whenever he could find time during his last deployment to call her (Not to mention the disaster that she’d gotten them involved with about four weeks ago), Anakin knows that Pa- _Sidious_ is pushing up his plans, likely has been since the moment he’d… anyway, him and Artoo have set up most of the mechanics, but he needed someone who didn’t give a _damn_ about him and could probably give a Sith one _hell_ of a fight to know what’s coming in case…

 

In case.

 

(In case what? In case he dies… or in case he doesn’t.

 

He doesn’t know.

 

(In case he fails.))

 

It can’t be Yoda, because the troll cares too much about Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to let him. It obviously can’t be Obi-Wan because Obi-Wan was too good a person to let him do what was needed.

 

Most Masters were out on the front, though…

 

But not Mace Windu.

 

And Windu fits the qualifications down to a T.

 

He goes, with R2-D2. He tells him that he had had a vision on the identity of the mysterious Darth Sidious. He asks him to call an emergency Council meeting…

 

And he tells Windu not to hesitate if something goes wrong.

 

(Lets his own Darkness show in the Force, and a vague idea of a future where he joins the Sith.

 

It’s just what Windu will need to make the right choice, to know that he’s dangerous.)

 

Then, quick as he can, he leaves.

  


(He contacts Organa.  He prays that all of this planning pays off. (It will.))

  


(Anakin-Skywalker: Are you sure that this will work?

 

R2-D2 lets his head spin around once, squealing. As if his pilot had not asked him that a dozen times before. Still, Count-Dooku /had/ spent 66 days trying to hack and reprogram Anakin-Skywalker, and flesh-beings can’t be fixed as easily as R2-D2 himself can be, so he will cut his Jedi some slack.

 

R2-D2: I am sure, Anakin-Skywalker. I will make the slow-Senate and the stupid-Council see the truth.

 

Anakin-Skywalker laughs, and it makes R2-D2 chirp happily. If his pilot is not a complete idiot, then his programming will, in all probability and with enough time, eventually become fixed.

 

...Of course, his pilot _is_ an idiot.)

  


“Ah!” Says Palpatine (Sidious), the man that he (had once) considered a father figure, “What can I do for you, my boy?”

 

(A pulse goes out into the Force, and Anakin finds himself grateful for whatever went wrong in the assembly line that put kyber where R2-D2’s backup battery should be. The Galaxy was watching…

 

And Anakin is ready to put on a show.)

 

Anakin smiles, and lets his outermost shields drop. He locks the door with the Force, and lights his brilliant blue blade.

 

( _“I am a Jedi, like my father before me,”_ Luke had said. Anakin will make a world where Luke can say it and have it be true.

 

He’d felt it, just since he’s been back.

 

It must be a sign that the Force wants grandchildren.

 

(He wishes that he could meet them.))

 

“Chancellor Palpatine,” he says as clearly as he can, playing quite purposefully to the cameras, “You are under arrest for conspiring with the Separatists, and I am to take you into custody of the Jedi as according to the laws of the Republic on the matter of all trained Force-Sensitive individuals.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh... my muse is a strange thing, and my mind is an odd place. Also, Artoo's POV is fun to write, and I can't believe that this is the first time that he's shown up.


	2. General Skywalker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't know where to put this, so... here you go.

Skywalker-and-Kenobi rush in together like a blazing storm of badassery and hope. The 212th, who had been struggling since the faked death of their General, found hope in the fact that not even death could keep Obi-Wan Kenobi down, and the 501st, well…

 

They tell horror stories about Seppie prisons and Sith, but no one ever expects those things to affect them personally.

 

The 501st are just glad that General Skywalker is well enough to fight. Every veteran absolutely adores him because Skywalker is one of the few generals that always put their men first, and he was just as good as a Commander. They hate the Jedi Council perhaps even more than he does, for how he gets treated in turn.

 

“Attachments,” they say, and the clones in room have to force themselves not to laugh.

 

It’s the 501st medics that redress their General’s bacta-resistant wounds after all, and few things stay secret in the GAR.

 

Even so, most of the men truly believe that Skywalker-and-Kenobi is back and better than ever.

 

But it’s not that simple, to others.

 

There’s a tone, you see. A tone of voice that says “I’m doing something that will save everyone except myself, and you can’t stop me because it needs to be done”.

 

And Fives has had too many encounters with that voice, on too many brothers that he was close to, to miss it.

 

When General Skywalker had gone to himself and Rex about the chips, they hadn’t hesitated. Fives would readily admit to being spoiled, a member of one of the most liberal legions in the GAR since his Shiny days, but he also likes to think of that as an advantage.

 

He’s never been as afraid to speak his mind.

 

He says yes, and so does Rex.

 

What he doesn’t say, however, is that he could hear the shakiness in their General’s voice, that he recognizes the inflection of deadly intent, that finally putting a face to That Voice is one of the worst things that Fives has ever learned.

 

(That his General feels different in an indescribable way, and still gone in another.)

 

He tries to chalk it up to General Kenobi’s death, especially when news reaches them that the General’s death was faked.

 

But, then, he overhears a conversation between The Team.

 

“Anakin, don’t push yourself like that,” says General Kenobi, “Honestly, you should have known better than to extend yourself like that. Serious Force Exhaustion before we even get on the front….”

 

He trails off.

 

“I’m sorry,” says the voice of his own General in reply, “I saw him, and I panicked. I… I won’t do it again.”

 

That was all he listened to.

 

It was enough.

 

General Skywalker, to the relief of every man in the 501st, had almost never suffered from more than some very mild Force Exhaustion, but Kenobi...

 

He’d heard stories.

 

And, if their General has really done something so reckless that he’d actually gotten serious Force Exhaustion, well…

 

He has a suspicion who “him” might be, and he thanks every deity that he’s learned of for the fact Dooku is never on the front.

 

Because, especially after the past few  disasters , the newer men won’t trust a volatile Skywalker.

 

(The veterans will, and always have, but even more of them are gone, now. It’s not a surprise, of course, they were made to die, but…

 

It hurts, now more than ever.)

 

But, of course, Fives will do his best. The horror stories may be false, or they may be real, but he’ll definitely need to keep his eye on the General.

 

Unsurprisingly, he’s not the only one.

 

“I’m worried about General Skywalker,” someone says as the veterans stand together, watching him spar with Ahsoka. He’s not entirely sure who it is who says it, too lost in thought to pick up the inflection.

 

He just scoffs in reply.

 

“Who isn’t?” he asks sarcastically.

 

Across the room, Ahsoka’s blade makes contact, and, had they been using real sabers, General Skywalker would be needing a second mech hand.

 

It feels like something just to the left of Deja Vu.

 

(“Is he planning what I think?” Rex asks later, once the rest of them have cleared out. Fives is silent, but he knows that that’s all the answers that they need.)

 

It’s right as they get back to Coruscant that the final piece of the puzzle clicks into place.

 

“The Chancellor is the Sith Lord,” General Skywalker tells them.

 

Now, finally, he finally understands…

 

Anakin Skywalker would always choose his own death over a loved one’s, and  _ killing _ them, well…

 

Fives couldn’t blame him.

 

And, now, all he can do is wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the 501st love their General(s), but Anakin not at the top of his game is not someone who you can entirely trust. Also, I love Fives (is it obvious?).

**Author's Note:**

> this is a strange thing, and a bit of a mismash. Still, setup is setup, and, sadly, it needs to be done.
> 
> find me on tumblr [@flaim-ita](https://flaim-ita.tumblr.com/)


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